How to bring innovation into your company
The question of how to bring innovation to a company is something we've spent a lot of time helping leaders and their teams to do in multiple engagements.
In this blog post, we have included a number of methods that can be used when bringing innovation into your company. In general, the overall goal is to move from a command-and-control management style to one where employees are empowered to bring creative ideas forward and implement them in order to drive success.
To ensure successful innovation adoption within a team or company, a leader must establish a culture of innovation in the workplace by promoting an environment where employees are constantly encouraged to come up with new ideas and see their efforts rewarded.
It's important to understand that when you're trying to bring innovation into your business, the most important thing is not about which method is best suited for your firm but to engage with your employees, they are the true innovators who have an acute understanding of the daily issues within the business.
Leaders and entrepreneurs need to provide their employees with adequate space and opportunity to innovate, when starting:
Define and measure innovation, innovation is contextual not generic. Context also allows KPIs and processes to be defined to help provide a framework for your innovators, provide direction. Teams typically are focused more on what they will do, not how they'll get it done. As a result, when they run into problems which they will, they don't have a process to work creatively through their problems or collaborate effectively across functions. As a result, get stuck, frustrated, and have difficulty advancing their goals.
Balance - innovation is not purely focused on the new and the shiny services or products but can be just as effective when focused on improvement. Better ways to work, continuous improvements that must be data led.
Look for:
That business process that keeps failing or having issues,
Handoffs to other teams that never seem to go well
The rework or missed deadlines because something isn't efficient
The customer who isn't happy
The stuff that leaves you wondering, "Why do we do that?"
Use innovation as a change agent, we have all become much more aware of the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity within our sectors due to external factors, Brexit, COVID-19, technology and more. Whether by choice or by chance, change is a constant reality, companies must navigate uncertain outcomes and constraints on people and other resources. Status quo responses and old working methods won't cut it when faced with change. New strategies for getting existing work done and for adapting to unique circumstances and work requirements are required. In short, it is the perfect time to bring innovation to a company.
Improve ideation - typically in brainstorming sessions. A protocol that includes explicit use of creative thinking i.e. design thinking, service design etc..; and clarity on the decision criteria you'll use to evaluate and prioritize ideas.
Establish a central “innovation” function. This will serve as the center of gravity for driving innovation in your company. The role of this team is to study the external environment, pull together work that is going on across functions or silos, and then provide inspiration and support for teams who are executing against a particular project or idea.
Hopefully, this gives you a place to start driving innovation in your organization. As you can see it's not just about creating a new process or rule, but infusing and supporting the company with an attitude of inquiry and disruption to drive big ideas that bring value to the business.
Drop me a line below or email me at info@scryla.co.uk if you have any questions!
If you found this post helpful, please share it with your networks. I would love to hear about what types of innovation stories are resonating most with you.